


By Your Side

by insaneaboutwolfsbane (werelocked)



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M, possibly incorrect mythology
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-15
Updated: 2018-05-15
Packaged: 2019-05-07 08:33:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14667312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/werelocked/pseuds/insaneaboutwolfsbane
Summary: Liam just wanted to write his history paper. Somehow he ends up hunting sea monsters instead, but at least Theo's there to make sure he's not alone. (Edited 5/23/18!)





	By Your Side

**Author's Note:**

> So I wrote this when I should have been writing other things, and it took longer than expected. A lot of weird research went into this story and it also turned out so much longer than planned. I hope you guys like it!  
> PS: learning about kelpies did give me nightmares.

Liam wasn’t ready.

He had a presentation in Advanced Placement World History in two days. For once he didn’t have to do a powerpoint or make any models or dioramas, unfortunately, since he enjoyed making both. All he had to do was write an eight-page paper and summarize the most important topics into a five minute speech to present to the entire class on Monday. And the paper wasn’t finished.

Anyone else might say the nine, almost ten page document on his screen might say otherwise, but not Liam. Even after he adjusted the margins and decreased font size as much as he could without being _too_ obvious and typing another sheet for all his citations, he didn’t think it was good enough. Something was missing. He wasn’t ready.

“Can I read this to you?” Liam pleaded. He turned his big, pleading puppy eyes toward his friends. They always worked for Scott, and as his beta, he’d only learned from the best.

“Not again.” Mason groaned, not looking away from the TV screen. He, Corey, and Theo were sprawled all over Liam’s room. Mason and Corey took over the bed and Theo was slowly sinking into a beanbag while the three of them played video games.

Liam picked up a pencil from his desk and threw it at his best friend. “I’ll unplug my PS4.”

With an exaggerated sigh, Mason rolled his eyes. “Yes, please. Read us your history paper for the millionth time. We’re dying to hear it.” He said monotonously. Theo glanced briefly at him.

That was all the encouragement Liam needed.

“My name is Liam Dunbar. The focus of my presentation is the Organization and Reorganization of Human Societies, particularly from 600 B.C.E to 600 C.E.” He paused and read over his paper again. “Sorry, um. I know I need a better intro.” He turned the rolling chair to face the desk and quickly made a comment in the notebook he had next to his laptop.

He already had his speech typed out and opened on his screen next to his research paper, but Liam liked to make edits in notebooks. Sometimes when he really liked a project, he enjoyed looking back through them when the class was over to really absorb what he learned. Plus, hand writing the notes he came up with helped facts solidify in his memory and made them easier to remember during the actual speech.

“As early states and empires grew in number, size, and population, they frequently competed for resources and came in conflict with one another-”

Corey made a some sort of coughing noise, and it threw him off. “The, um, number and - uh- size of key states and empires grew dramatically as rules imposed political unity on areas where previously there had been competing states. Key states and empires that grew include…” Liam quickly regained his confidence and the rest of the speech flowed easily.

“In conclusion, well, you get the point.” Liam grinned and turned back around to face them. “What did you think?”

“It was good.” Mason didn’t look away from the video game.

“Corey?”

A grunt was his only reply. The other boy was leaning heavily against Mason, and when his boyfriend jerked the PS4 controller too hard, Corey collapsed into his lap. Asleep.

Mason finally paused the game. “Sorry, bro. He must be tired from researching sea monsters all night.” He gently stroked Corey’s hair. “Poor boy.”

Liam bit his lip. “Theo?”

Before he could reply, all four of their phones beeped with a text.

“Wake up, babe. Time to go.” Mason shook Corey awake. “Bring that laptop, Liam. All our research is on that.”

“Right.” Liam shoved the computer into his backpack. He followed Corey and Mason downstairs, barely listening as they gave a brief overview of what they’d learned yesterday. His mind was still on his own research and he trailed behind with Theo.

Theo unlocked his truck and opened the passenger side door for Liam. Scott and Stiles were waiting for them at Glass Beach, near Fort Bragg on the coast. He loved getting to ride shotgun on long rides if only to get to mess with the radio. If he was annoying enough, changing stations and lowering or raising the volume, sometimes Theo would grab his hand and hold it still for the rest of the ride.

Unfortunately Liam was too distracted this time around to flirt with Theo in his own roundabout way, literally pushing his buttons. He fidgeted around in his seat and drummed his fingers nervously against his leg, kicking himself for forgetting his project notebook at home.

At the last stoplight on the edge of town, Theo reached towards him and Liam thought he wanted to hold his hand anyway. Instead he opened the glove compartment in front of Liam and pulled out a small blue notepad. He tossed it in Liam’s lap and grabbed the wheel again to make a turn in one smooth motion.

“Thank you.” Theo didn’t reply, but caught his eye in the rearview mirror and they shared a small smile.

 

Liam called Scott when they were close. He and Stiles had a room at the Glass Beach Inn nearby, and would wait for them down on the beach. Since it was Friday, the two of them had driven up from UC Davis after their last class and booked a room at the inn to help them investigate a rumor. The trip was a little out of their way, but one accident was reported a little too close to Beacon Hills for Scott’s taste.

The truck pulled into a mostly empty parking lot cordoned off by wood and rope posts. As they made their way to the beach the black asphalt gave way to dirt pathways littered with colorful stones. The closer they got to the water, more and more of the stones - which Liam realized was the sea glass that gave the beach its name - covered the shore entirely as far as they could see.

A glass stone sailed over their heads. “Over here!” Stiles waved.

“So what are we dealing with here?” Scott asked. “Did you find anymore information about what’s causing all these disappearances?”

“Is it really a mermaid?” Stiles demanded.

Mason shook his head. “It’s a kelpie. They’re malevolent water spirits that lure victims into bodies of water to eat them. The legend is Scottish, and the name derives from the Gaelic word ‘colpach’ meaning colt, since kelpies usually take the shape of horses. However, they are shapeshifters and can also materialize as women.”

“That would explain why we’ve heard rumors of ‘mermaids’ luring people into the water.” Corey said.

“Explains why the bodies never turned up.” Theo muttered.

“She chose a perfect hideout. Stiles and I did some digging around town earlier today. The beach is technically considered part of MacKerricher State Park, so a tour guide told us a local legend about how all these pieces of sea glass are tears from a mermaid every time a sailor was lost at sea.”

Stiles bent down to scoop up a handful of round, polished sea glass. “Dragged out to sea and eaten, most likely.” He snorted and let the colorful pebbles cascade through his fingers.

“So how do we kill it?” Theo asked.

Mason gestured to Liam, who shrugged out of his backpack. He fished out Liam’s laptop and opened the research document. “There’s two possible methods, though I’m not sure how reliable the first one is.” He hesitated. “One story said we just have to get a saddle and bridle on it and lead it back to the ocean. I’m don't know how that would prevent it from coming back.”

“And Plan B?” Liam prompted.

“According to the beastiary, kelpies don’t do well with iron. It said if we heat some kind of iron spike in a fire, we can use it to kill a kelpie.” Mason said.

“If we can lead it back to the water and be done with it, that would be ideal.” Scott said. “Though we should probably set up Plan B, just in case.”

Mason dug through Liam’s bag again. “Already on it.” He pulled out two long iron pokers. Liam slid his laptop back in and shouldered the backpack again. “We can go into town and see if we can find a bridle or saddle anywhere.”

“Good idea.” Scott nodded.

The six of them broke into groups of two. Scott and Stiles took the Jeep back into town while Mason and Corey walked halfway down the beach to a boardwalk busy with some sort of small market place. Liam and Theo patrolled the edge of the water together, searching for their watery horse ghost and keeping random tourists from getting too close.

The sun slowly began to set, streaking the sky with oranges and pinks. The breeze off the ocean was chillier now without the sun’s warmth. Theo scrounged together some twigs and ocean debris dry enough to make a small campfire, propping up the iron pokers by the flame to heat the tips.

Liam paced along the edge of the water, watching the ocean swallow up the sun. He walked far enough into the surf to cause ripples in the reflection of the sky. The glass gave way to sand that squished between his toes. Cool waves lapped at his ankles.

“Careful, Liam.” Theo warned mildly.

“Come on in, the water’s fine.” He teased, waving off the concern. Suddenly all the water's remaining warmth leeched away at once. A tiny whirlpool formed a few feet away, growing quickly in size. It seemed much darker and deeper than it should have been.

“I think I see Scott and Stiles.” He heard Theo say. “That must be Mason and Corey right behind them.”

Liam turned slowly to face him. “Theo-”

“Behind you!”

The warning was almost unnecessary. Liam didn’t need to be told something had appeared just behind him, the presence made all the hair on his arms stand up. He could feel the hot breath of - something - just over his head. Liam whirled around.

An enormous dark horse stood barely a foot away, where it hadn’t been a moment before. Its pelt rippled for a moment as if made of iridescent black scales and slick seaweed seemed to be braided into its mane. Icy blue eyes glowed with an eerie light.

From far away, Liam heard a cry of his name. From behind there was a splashing sound and he could tell someone jumped into the water after him.

The kelpie didn’t like that. It tossed its mane to one side in agitation and snorted. The monster wrinkled its muzzle like a dog and Liam could see huge uneven teeth, sharp and stained with blood.

“Don’t,” Liam whispered, and the splashing stopped. The kelpie reared up and back down several times, churning up the water and making it hard to keep his balance.

He slowly reached out one hand to pat the neck and heard a horrified voice call out - “No!” Liam cast a frightened glance over his shoulder. Mason stood on the shoreline, hands cupped over his mouth. “Don’t touch its skin!”

“How the hell are we supposed to bridle it without touching it?” Theo snapped.

But it was too late. Liam’s hand made contact against the kelpie’s flank and when he tried to pull away he realized he couldn’t. The creature's skin felt unbearably cold and already his hand tingled painfully, like when his limbs fell asleep. It ducked its head against its own shoulder and made eye contact with Liam so he could see the a drop of red blooming in the entirely blue iris like a drop of blood in an ocean.

“Fuck!” He thrashed desperately, but couldn’t get his hand free. “Mason? Scott?” The monster gave a contented sigh - its breath a fowl combination of sea salt and rotting flesh - before it took two steps back. Dragging Liam with him.

“Theo! Help me! Please!”

“Liam!” Scott’s voice resonated with his alpha tone. “Theo can’t get closer without spooking the thing. Stay calm, we’re going to get you out of this.”

Liam looked around wildly at the five of them. Corey was whispering to Scott, who nodded and reached into the fire. He pulled out one of the pokers and passed it to Stiles. They were close enough to quickly hand off through a chain without physically stepping closer to the water. It eventually got to Theo, but they were too far away from each other.

Gripping the poker tightly, Theo nodded at him once. Liam immediately knew what he was thinking.

It wasn’t a great plan. If Theo threw it, he could miss. The poker might cool down too much to do any damage. The kelpie could easily knock it out of the way. It could easily pierce or burn Liam instead.

Theo threw clenched his jaw, swung his arm, and threw.

The kelpie reared up again at the same time Liam dove forward. His left arm wrenched back while white hot pain seared his palm but he didn’t care. He tightened his hold and stabbed the weapon deep between the monster’s ribs.

A furious squeal pierced the air before choking off suddenly. The kelpie’s legs buckled and it collapsed into the water and Liam could see Theo on the creature’s other side, stabbing the other poker in repeatedly.

With one last chilling wail, the monster slumped on its side and Liam couldn’t move fast enough before it pinned him.

“Get off, get off, get it away from me.” Liam panicked, splashing and pushing, trying to scramble away. Someone gripped his shoulders and wrenched him backwards. His hand ripped free. He held both arms out and saw matching wounds on each palm - one scorched and the other pale and blistered as if frostbitten.

Theo wrapped one arm around his shoulders and led him back to shore. Stiles and the others bundled him up in as many towels as he could.

“Are you okay?” Scott gingerly grabbed each of his wrists and Liam watched inky tendrils of his pain bleed into Scott’s veins.

Liam coughed out a bit of water. “I’m fine. I’m fine.”

“I’ll take him home.” Theo promised. Corey and Mason helped herd him back to the truck but he paused before climbing in. Liam glanced back to the beach.

Small waves crested and crashed over a large black mass that looked like a the remains of a giant jellyfish. Liam watched the kelpie’s body dissolve into the ocean for a moment before getting in the truck and driving away.

 

The boys didn’t seem to believe he was okay. There was no way he could talk them into going home so he offered them the guest room down the hall, as usual. As usual, they ignored him and curled up together in the beanbag chair.

“I’m going to shower.” Liam told Theo. “Give me a minute.”

He grabbed a towel and a change of clothes before locking himself in the bathroom. Liam turned up the hot water until the mirrors steamed up and stayed under the spray until it washed away the memory of being frozen in terror.

By the time he scrubbed himself enough he felt clean again, both his hands had healed. He pulled on some sweatpants and rubbed a towel through his hair as he padded barefoot back to his room.

Theo laid on Liam’s bed, propped up on one elbow, looking at his phone. He’d changed out of his own wet clothes and into a pair of Liam’s sweatpants. It was a familiar sight. The two of them spent a lot of time together - especially recently - and it didn’t matter whether they were doing homework or research or playing video games, they always seemed to end up in the bed.

A lot of the time, they fell asleep. Occasionally it was a conscious decision on both their parts to simply stop what they were doing in favor of crawling under the sheets to get some rest. Theo would help himself to Liam's pajamas and lay on the side of the bed that was all but his. Come morning any 'respectful distance' they kept apart from each other dwindled down to nothing. Liam didn’t know if the closeness spooked Theo though because sometimes the two of them would be on the verge of passing out and his friend would shake himself awake and slip out of bed and out through the window before Liam could even start a protest.

Watching Theo look up and smile at him, Liam suddenly couldn’t bear the idea of this being one of those times. He shut the door softly so as not to wake the other two in the room and crawled into bed and right into Theo’s personal space.

Theo didn’t move. “You sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine. Are _you_ okay?” He felt a touch on the back of his hand and moved so it lay flat between them, palm up. Theo covered it with his own and laced their fingers together. Faint threads of black crept up Theo’s wrists.

“I’m alright.”

“Might need to keep an eye on you.” Liam said with a yawn. “Just in case.”

Theo rolled his eyes and let out an amused huff. He said something else but Liam didn’t hear it as he drifted off to sleep.

 

Liam slept late into the morning. When he eventually opened his eyes he saw his best friend was already awake.

“How are you feeling?” Mason asked quietly.

Quickly he took a mental inventory, rolling his shoulders and stretching his legs. Making sure he fully healed. A full body shiver rippled through him when he realized there was an arm wrapped around his waist. “So good.”

Mason grinned knowingly.

He lay still for a moment. Theo’s body was pressed close behind him, solid and warm. Liam slowly rolled over in the circle of his arms to take in the soft expression on Theo’s face. Suddenly all he wanted was to lay here with Theo and his scruffy beard and unstyled hair for as long as he could.

Liam regretfully wiggled free before the other boy woke up.

“Mmm, no. Should be resting.” Theo murmured without opening his eyes.

“Relax, it's okay.” Liam promised. He stretched and left for a quick bathroom run. When he returned he plopped into his desk chair and his eyes fell on the notebook he’d been writing the edits for his paper yesterday. Liam’s blood ran cold.

“Theo, keys. Where are your keys?”

Theo slowly sat up, blankets pooling around his waist. He squinted sleepily as he searched for the keys on the nightstand and tossed them to Liam, who ran from the room like it had caught fire. He and Mason shrugged at each other.

“No!” They heard Liam shout from downstairs. He raced back in the room holding a soggy backpack. “It’s gone. It’s all gone.”

“What’s-”

“The computer’s fried. My paper’s gone.” Liam forgot he’d kept his backpack on the whole fight with the kelpie. In the ocean. Like an idiot.

“Oh, no. Let me look at it, maybe I can save something from the hard drive-” Mason trailed off when Liam pulled the laptop out of the bag. The screen was shattered, falling off its hinges and the plastic body was cracked in several places. It must have been crushed while Liam had been pinned under the dying creature.

Corey stirred next to Mason on the beanbag chair and he poked and prodded his boyfriend into a standing position. “We’ll let you work on it.”

“Night,” Corey slurred, not quite awake.

After they left Liam sank down heavily at his desk. “It’s gone, Theo.”

“We can fix it.” Theo said firmly, sounded decidedly more awake.

“How?” Liam moaned, hiding his face in his hands.

“You read it to us yesterday. I remember some of it, and you’ve got your notes. Plus, I know you know this stuff. We'll rewrite it.” The only reply was a skeptical stare. “What?”

Liam shook his head. “Okay. Okay, we can try.”

“We’ve got this. You can do this. Put a shirt on, then go get your mom’s laptop.” He did as he was told, tossing Theo one of his shirts to put on as well.

They set to work. With his notebook and the notepad from Theo’s truck, Liam could mostly recreate the paper’s outline. Theo grabbed Liam’s AP World guide with examples of past research papers and helped him restructure his thesis and flesh out paragraphs.

“You explained why, but you’re missing _how_ different functions and institutions changed over time.” Theo reminded him.

“Don’t forget to cite the quote you paraphrased in the last paragraph.”

“Just get it all written out. We can edit it tomorrow.”

Four hours or so later, the paper was mostly finished. Again. While Liam knew he’d most likely spend all of tomorrow tweaking it, he felt better about the rewrite than he had about the original. It was time for a snack break before they tackled the speech.

As they rose from their seats to head for the kitchen, Theo flicked his ear. “Don’t forget to back it up this time.” Liam saved the paper on a flash drive. Two, actually. Just to be safe.

“I think I remember most of my speech, so that’ll be easy.” Liam said. He prepared two grilled cheese while Theo made two sandwiches with several layers of deli meat. They grabbed sodas and a bag of chips and climbed back upstairs.

“Remember, don’t cover too much. Your paper has all these great examples and that’s fine, because you can go in depth of each one. But your speech should just focus on one particular empire and I think it’ll be better.”

For the second time Liam found himself staring at Theo, just sitting on the edge of the bed.

_“What?”_

He blushed, too embarrassed to admit he hadn’t thought Theo had really been paying attention. He turned back to his desk. “Thanks, I guess. You don’t have to help me.”

“Couldn’t let you get all stressed out about it, after what happened yesterday.” Theo shrugged. He wasn’t looking at Liam and he got the sense there was something he didn’t want to say.

“Trust me, this is nothing compared to almost dying.” Liam joked, and got no reaction. “Is something wrong?”

“I don’t understand - the thing had you. You were begging for Scott and Mason, but then you called _me_ to come save you.” The tips of his ears flushed pink. “I just wanted to know why me, exactly."

Liam shrugged. He picked at his sandwich. “Scott and Mason, if I call for help I know they’ll come. They’d drop everything for me. With you… It's like don’t even have to think. I can just look and you’re already there.”

 _Always_. Liam spun the chair to face Theo fully. Right next to him, as always.

“Someone’s gotta keep an eye on you.” Theo mocked his own words from last night.

"You're right there. But always just out of reach." Liam came to a realization. He let it out with one breath. "You're always the one to hold my hand - even though sometimes I want to so bad it hurts. You just feel so far away."

They made eye contact. "I'm right here." Theo murmured, holding out one hand. Liam slowly shuffled to the bed and stopped just in front of him.

"Like yesterday. I was - I am - so scared to reach out and touch you. I was never brave enough because I'm  _too scared_ to do something wrong. I don't know what I'd ever do if I turned to look for you and you weren't there." He fidgeted with the blankets and moved Theo's plate to the nightstand just for something to do.

“That’s not something you ever have to worry about.” Liam looked up. Theo's words were fierce but his eyes were soft.

Something in them finally convinced Liam. His hand shook as his confidence faltered but he finally laced their fingers together. He closed all distance between them and - after a moment of hesitation - went ahead and climbed right into Theo's lap. 

"Is this - do you want-"

Theo didn't let him second-guess himself, wrapping an arm around his waist to keep him there. Liam made his choice, showing Theo he wasn't just getting his hopes up and reading the situation wrong. Now it was Theo's turn to be brave.

Squeezing Liam's hand once, Theo kissed him first.

A soft gasp of surprise was smothered by the soft press of lips. Liam's hand immediately slid to the back of Theo's neck and he could feel Theo grip the back of his shirt tightly. They pulled each other closer and Liam pretty much melted.

Theo was unprepared for his full weight, and they both fell onto the bed. Theo laid on his back, Liam over him on his knees trying not to crush him again. They rolled onto their sides like they had fallen asleep last night, their hands still intertwined.

For a long while, they traded slow, soft kisses. Liam had to break away each time his smile grew too wide and it made Theo laugh.

“I’ve got you,” Theo whispered. Liam blushed and kissed him again. 

**Author's Note:**

> Don’t remember much from my AP classes in high school, sorry if anything isn’t accurate.  
> Thanks for reading! Comments and kudos are really appreciated ❤❤  
> PS: the ending's been edited and changed since the original posting!


End file.
